I am a little surprised we haven't made a topic on this yet, but here we are.

I'm slowly making my way through the third book (just started it this week). I almost wish I'd read the books before I'd seen the first three seasons of the show, since I had to put Book 2 down for a few months and I got confused when reading it last week. I've sorted it out now, but yeah, it's kind of amazing how much detail he goes into every main character's story... I can kind of see why it takes him so long to write the books. I think I'd have trouble keeping all those storylines straight if I were writing it.

I finished all the ones so far publish some months ago, and absolutely loved them. The sheer detail that he goes into is one of the things that particularly appealed to me. I love the fact that he describes life as it is lived in that world, with everything, good or incredibly mundane (even to the point of describing people going for a peel) in great detail. The fact that there are so many characters who are vital to the story, rather than one hero, is another thing that appeals to me, and I really like the way the reader follows events through the eyes of whoever each chapter is about, complete with that character's attitudes, faction-related opinions, and even misunderstandings or lack of knowledge. And of course, you can never take anything for granted. The number of unexpected twists and turns in the plot is amazing. XD

Oh man, the third is my favorite of the lot by far. You're gonna have fun with the rest of that. Some people complain about the next two being slow in the aftermath of the third, but I feel it's sort of necessary, and while I have a few complaints about minor details in them I'm still pleased overall with 4 and 5. And looking at reactions and such online, I kind of like how everyone is getting so worked up about one part of the end of book 5, but ignoring what is clearly the larger and more important event (shit's going down in 6 once it's out, I guarantee it).

And as for Dino's comment on the number of characters "rather than one hero", I also think it's so important that there isn't a hero at all (well, you could argue for Daenarys I guess). But there are no heroes or villains the way he exposes you to the characters and their experiences of the same events. It's amazing how he can turn Jaime from the most-hated villain of the first book or two into such an amazing character (as well as a certain other character later whom I won't name due to spoilers and all that).

my biggest influence by far. everyone involved in the plot is human, and has their own biases and motives, and that's something I try to focus on in my own writing now

anyway yeah I could go on at length about how I've read the series eight times and tracked down the extra stories and spend all my time playing ASOIAF mods for crusader kings II and mount & blade but whoops I guess I just did

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